Take This
by Love's Labour's Won
Summary: A sick wave of shock rolled over Roy. Who among his subordinates could be in that condition? This had a strange taint of surreality. "Please be a mistake..." Slight Parental!RoyEd, Hints of Royai, Anime or Manga Verse After Lab 5.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters and likenesses thereof. This is a fan-made work created purely for entertainment, and I am not in any way affiliated with the author or publishers. In other words: It's not mine! I'm just having fun with it!

A/N: Okay, kids. I wasn't going to start another story at this time... but you know how opportunity knocks? I got a PM from **Chibi Hayaku Hashiru** concerning an FMA story of hers that I had been reading, saying that she was no longer going to update it and that she was seeking someone to adopt it. Well, I wasn't sure at first, but suddenly a big cool idea came to me, followed by yet another one, and I just had to take it! However, I promise that I will still update my other stories; besides, this one is largely planned out already, even to the ending, and it won't be as long as the other ones I have running are or probably will be. Now that I have made this fabulous introduction...

Thank you, Chibi, and may all who see this enjoy the story!

* * *

Tiresome. That was the word, indeed. It was a word that described many things. It was a word that described long, drawn-out policy meetings. It was a word that described military demonstrations in public, complete with marching. Most of all, however, it was a word that described paperwork. Lit up by the cold glare of the overhead lights, the pen scratched over white paper, leaving dark marks that signified authority. It was funny that they had been given such weight. They were only scribbles, after all. Thunder rolled in the distance…

"_There's a storm coming…"_

"_Bring! Bring!"_ The shrill noise from the telephone startled Roy into some semblance of alertness. Without setting his pen down, he reached the receiver and lifted it up to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked, his monotone making his boredom obvious. _"What do you want?"_

"Sir?" the girl at the desk asked. She was a pretty girl; a little tall, but pretty, if he was remembering correctly. Roy made a mental note to obtain her number at the next opportunity. "You have an emergency call from Central Hospital." Roy raised an eyebrow. What could they possibly want with him? It had better not involve more paperwork.

"Patch it through," he ordered, and the phone line went dead for a moment. He fiddled about with the pen in his hand, idly wondering if someone had beaten Falman up for committing some kind of social faux pas.

"Colonel Mustang," the voice on the other end of the line stated rather than asked.

"Yes?" he asked, purely out of courtesy. He could not deny that for all his idle wonderings this call was beginning to worry him.

"We have one of your subordinates here, and his condition is quite serious," the voice told him, callous because of its everyday experiences. "In fact, he is proving to be a threat to the staff. We need you over here as soon as possible."

A sick wave of shock rolled over Roy. Who among his subordinates could be in that condition? This had a strange taint of surreality.

"I'll be over very soon," he heard himself telling the voice. "Er… who is it?" He found himself glancing around the office, taking account of everyone's presence, everyone, that is, except… _"Please be a mistake."_

The voice took its time responding, the only sound coming over the line a faint rustling of papers. An impatience fed by his anxiety began to crawl through his gut like a centipede, hundreds of legs brushing his insides.

"_Come _on_… I'll never get over there at this rate."_

"Edward Elric." The words sent cold shivers down Roy's spine. Of course; Ed was often at the hospital for some reason or another, was he not? No need to worry… no need to worry… worry. "…unstable." The word barely registered. He stood much faster than his purported lack of worry should allow, hanging up without even bothering to say goodbye.

"Hawkeye," he almost snapped, his agitation clear to the blonde lieutenant. "Come along. We have to go to the hospital." He kept reminding himself not to worry, but he could not help it. It was part of his nature, unfortunately, just as it is part of every man's nature.

"Yes, sir." Riza acknowledged him quickly, almost sympathetically, as she stood up and followed him. The door slammed uncharacteristically behind her. The rest of the office's inhabitants stared at the door, confused.

"What was that about?" Fuery asked, voicing what they all were wondering. The profound silence that followed his question was in and of itself a statement.

"I don't know--" Breda began slowly.

"But the Colonel mentioned the hospital, so you know it can't be good," Falman finished, putting the answer out in the open with his usual bluntness. Silence reigned once more, and the next sound was the scratching of pens as they returned quietly to work.

* * *

"Sir? If I may ask… what's going on…who's at the hospital?" Riza asked, keeping her eyes on the road as she turned the wheel at an intersection. Rain spattered across the windshield, the dark sky low and threatening. A flash of lightning cut across the canvas of darkness, giving everything, just for a moment, a sharp, unholy shine.

Roy did not answer, lost deep in dark landscapes of fear and doubt that even he could not describe. He was not a man to give in to impressions heralding imminent doom and gloom, but… something was wrong, terribly wrong.

Of course, he expected to be called if one of his subordinates was injured, but…

"…_unstable."_

Unstable? Edward? Impossible. He had quite the temper, and he often said and did things quite impulsively, but unstable? Not likely.

"We're here," Riza's voice cut into his brown study, and he jerked back into the present reality from the hazy hallways of the prospective future he had been wandering.

The hospital loomed like a sleeping giant over the street it faced, almost as if it were a thundercloud itself. Roy shuddered slightly, staring up at its grim face, trying to read the fates of those who walked its halls...

"Sir?"

He quickly walked to catch up with her and pulled open the large front door for his subordinate.

He strode up to the front desk, his eyes taking in the sterile whiteness of the place. He'd never liked hospitals. They were so ironic. For all the cheer they tried to spread, the terminal patients still died… and so many these days were terminal.

"I'm here to see Edward Elric, Ma'am," he said, deciding it would be better to get straight to the point instead of dragging this out with mincing words. His anxiety and impatience must have come across, because the receptionist, who had an ill-natured, lazy face, glanced quickly down at her sheet and began to move her finger down the her list, muttering to herself as she checked each one. She froze when she saw the number.

"Oh… you're here to see _him_." Roy felt his stomach tighten from the way she emphasized the pronoun. She shook her head and looked him straight in the eye, an almost frightening look on her face. His unease must be showing in a stronger way than he thought. "Watch out," she added, almost with a smirk, her ill nature allowing her to play with his fear. "They say he's crazy. I've heard him, as I walk down to the lounge: talking to himself, telling all sorts of wild tales… No one can get within 5 feet of him… not even the doctors can. Room 125. Good luck." Roy turned and walked away from the desk, heading to the wing she'd specified. "You'll need it," a low murmur echoed down after him, but when he turned around, she was absorbed in her work once more. Riza followed him quietly, her demeanor very subdued.

"Do you think what she said is true, sir?" she ventured after a time. "Do you really believe it's true?"

Roy gave no answer, his eyes covered by his black bangs, and Riza sighed behind him. After all, how could he answer that question? Certainly, the receptionist had not been the kindest of women—that place was reserved, in Roy's opinion, for someone else—but she had no reason to outright lie. He certainly hoped that the nurse had been exaggerating, even just a little bit, but…

He shuddered again. That possibility… no, it was not a possibility. That would never happen. Ed would not allow it to happen, not after so much effort and time... never.

The fluorescent lights shone harsh and unnatural over the linoleum floors. Hospitals kept floors like that in order to clean up fluids easily, if he remembered correctly. The hallway seemed to stretch forever, fluorescent lights winking in and out in various states.

_116…_

The lights up ahead were out, creating the impression of a cavernous mouth, complete with a wide red stripe down the middle of the linoleum for a bloody tongue sticking out into the light.

_119…_

He entered the darkened area, squinting to see the number plates by each door. In the end, he counted the rest of his way to their destination.

_123…_

Soon, he would see for himself if… he firmly put the thought from his mind.

_124…_

Soon, he would know if what had been said was… he violently put the thought from his mind, jerking his head slightly backward in recoil from its unpleasant stench.

A scream tore through the silent hall, a shriek that curdled the blood and made the small hairs of Roy's neck stand on end, an undulating sound that rose and fell with terror and anger and sadness and desperation—he was running now. The door he sought was slightly ajar, dull light spilling into the dim hallway. He pushed the door open and gasped audibly, eyes wide, stricken with shock and horror at the tableau before him.

* * *

A/N: Review! My primary goal with this chapter was atmosphere... tell me how I did! Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters and likenesses thereof. This is a fan-made work created purely for entertainment, and I am not in any way affiliated with the author or publishers. In other words: It's not mine! I'm just having fun with it! Thank you to **Chibi Hayaku Hashiru** for letting me adopt this story!

A/N: Thank you to **iTorchic**, **Taranova**, **xXxnightshadexXx**, **StormAlchemist677**, **Fullmoon Alchemist**, **Inicol1990**, **Simply Complex Mind**, **Suicidal-Despair**, **Horselvr4ever123**, **Orange Singer**, and **foreverforgotten5** for your lovely reviews! I have to say, I feel fabulous about this chapter.

* * *

Doctors and other personnel stood in a ring around the far corner of the dimly lit room, their white coats flapping about, syringes flying as they struggled with the small but desperate form trying to break past them.

A low growl escaped the creature's throat, and teeth clamped down on a nice-looking redheaded orderly's shoulder. The man screamed, blood spreading outward from where the blond boy was biting him, jaws still clamped around the shoulder, red liquid dribbling out of the corners of the mouth. The hair was wild, the eyes wide and bulging out, the limbs firmly clasped around the unfortunate man. Guttural groans and gurgles escaped the boy as he struggled with the men trying to drag him away from the attack. They finally got a grip on his waist, pulling, pulling… the redhead screamed again as the creature was finally removed from him, clamping his hand to the gaping wound.

Roy stood thunderstruck. His eyes took in the entire scene, but no sound escaped his throat. He trembled with fear and shock. Edward could get angry, but this… this was… he felt bile rise in his mouth.

"Mr. Elric," a balding man, presumably one of the physicians, said in the most soothing tone he could muster. "We're just trying to help you. It's going to be okay." Consideration flashed for a moment in Edward's bloodshot eyes. "It's just a small injection…" the spell was broken. Edward's face contorted almost beyond what Roy would have thought possible, hatred and terror mixing into an expression so hideous it was hard to believe that he was still the same person.

"Liar!" the one word seemed to ring out through the entire hospital. "Liar! Liar! LIAR!!! I WON'T GO TO SLEEP!!! GIVE ME BACK AL!!! WHERE IS HE!?! You're going to take him away and put him in a lab, aren't you, you BASTARDS!!! I WON'T LET YOU!!! GIVE HIM BACK!!!"

The balding doctor took advantage of the moment to jab the needle deep into Edward's vein.

"GIVE HIM BACK!!! GIVE HIM... give him… give…" Edward's screams died into choking, constricted sobs as he began to lose consciousness. He turned his head and saw Roy, seemingly noticing him for the first time. "Colonel… please… help Al… help me…" His eyes closed as he slumped into oblivion. "Dammit."

Roy put his hand on his subordinate's forehead, and his face felt wet… wait, it had been raining outside.

A blonde orderly switched the lights in the hall back on, raising the lights in the room back to full brightness as well. Roy sighed deeply, his breath almost catching in his throat.

"He's been like that ever since he got here," the blonde orderly broke the silence. The balding doctor nodded his agreement.

"Quite a fight there. I only hope Richmond's shoulder heals up all right." Roy remained silent.

Ed's mouth was open slightly now, his teeth no longer clenched. Blood still leaked from it, as well as the torn, stringy edges of a big chunk of… Roy's bile would no longer be re-swallowed. The orderly hurriedly brought a faded trashcan.

* * *

"_Where _is_ Al?"_ the question slowly drifted about in Roy's mind, mixing with other anxieties into a fearful milieu of anxiety. The armored boy should be in the room with Roy, sitting next to the bed anxiously awaiting his brother's return to consciousness. What had happened last night? If Edward did not regain his lucidity soon, no one else might ever know the answer, besides Al, wherever he was...

"Uh… Al…" Edward moaned, the sedatives finally allowing him back into the waking world "Al…" the word slurred from his mouth, incomprehensible except to one who already knew what he wanted. His eyes fluttered open slowly, a sigh escaping his lips as he registered his location. Terror and rage seemed to have left him for the time being.

"Where's Al?" he asked, his voice still heavy with sleep.

Roy could not answer. The lights flickered overhead, a fly buzzing somewhere inside them. HE quietly gazed at his subordinate, no words forming in his mouth.

"Al… where are you?" His bloodshot eyes rolled dizzily and suddenly grew wide and staring once more. Roy felt his stomach tighten. "Al. Al. Al." His voice grew stranger with each repetition, the something wrong that had been there all along, only submerged for the moment, returning in full force. His breathing grew hard and his face took on a look of misery so abject that he seemed to be about to cry… or scream. Roy reached out, helplessly patting his subordinate's shoulder, anxiety shooting needles through his veins at the contact.

"Are you… okay?" his voice sounded panicky despite the forced calm he was trying so hard to maintain. _"Please calm down, please be okay…"_

He received no response, not even a glance. Edward was hyperventilating, shaking…

"Edward…" Roy began slowly, hoping that the response would be somewhat helpful to his understanding of the situation, "Where is Alphonse?"

"ALPHONSE!" the scream rang out through the once quiet hospital, echoing off every polished surface and making Roy's stomach lurch. Edward shot upright, eyes full of terror, and tried to leap off the bed, but Roy lunged forward and pinned him down, grasping him tightly by the shoulders as he bucked and squirmed frantically.

"Fullmetal! Tell me what's wrong! Where is Alphonse?!" he barked frantically, adrenaline lacing his veins as he tried to keep his subordinate from running away to Gods know where. Where were the doctors? Roy thought about yelling for them, but…

"ENVY!" Edward screamed the name with a hatred Roy had not known his voice could possess. "Envy, you bastard! Envy! You murdered Al, you son of a bitch! Do you hear me, Envy? I'm going to kill you, Envy, kill you dead, and you'll scream and you'll cry and you'll beg, just like he did! Just like I did! Where are you, Envy? ENVY!?!" Edward suddenly jerked upward, his forehead colliding with Roy's mouth with such force that blood began to drip from Roy's lower lip. Roy jerked backward instinctively, hands flying to his mouth, and Edward took the opportunity to get out from under him and take off through the open door, running down the hallways, through the lobby, past the rude receptionist, and out into the city with surprising speed. Roy sprinted after him.

Night had fallen while Roy was in the hospital, and he had coaxed Riza into going home hours ago. He wondered if maybe he would have been better off to keep her with him, and he shivered despite his activity, a cold hand of fear quietly twisting in his gut, growing stronger every minute. Pollution lit the sky up with a lurid glare, blocking out the stars.

Ed was a good runner. His back was always before Roy, but it got smaller with distance as time went on, and Roy began to wonder if he might lose him. He ran past houses and apartments and stores and military buildings, never stopping even if someone was in his way, ducking and sidestepping with an ease Roy envied. Speaking of envy… who the hell was Envy?

The parts of the city Ed traversed grew increasingly military in nature… quieter, colder, more remote, and further from help. Roy was panting from exertion, a thin sheen of sweat covering his entire body, and Edward yet ran on.

Edward suddenly ducked into a low doorway on the side of a big, stone, military-looking building. Roy turned to follow him, but his momentum carried him sideways and he fell with a crash to the ground. His ankle twisted sickeningly beneath him and he cried out sharply in pain as a loud pop rang out through the silent air. It was dislocated, he was sure, if not broken. He stood slowly and tried to put a little weight on it, but the fiery pain the roared through the injured part deterred him from that course of action.

He glanced over at the dark doorway, but Edward had disappeared.

* * *

Every step shot fire shooting up his leg; every gasp echoed down the silent hallway he was dragging himself down, pulling his right foot along as much as possible to avoid having to step on it.

It was so quiet… Roy began to wonder if anyone ever came here at all. It was a military laboratory, he was sure… although they mystery of which it was was beyond his understanding. Following Edward, he had taken no note of where he was. Silence… Nothing… No one. He began to wonder if perhaps this were the wrong place. Maybe Edward had left.

His good leg hopped forward, hitting the concrete with a distinct tap, his dragging right leg scraping over its rough surface.

"Edward?" he called, reaching for the wall to steady himself. "Are you in here?" His voice echoed through the empty building, dying away into nothing. Futility… this was the epitome of that concept. "Edward?" he called once more, his searching fingers still meeting with nothing but air.

A low, rhythmic sound echoed down to greet him. It was soft, guttural almost, constant, a sound of sadness and happiness, anger and peace, calm and hysteria—a laugh.

Roy began to shuffle faster, hoping his subordinate would not take it into his head to run again. The laugh continued without pause, rising and falling in perfect rhythm, with no interruption to its unnatural cadence.

"Edward?"

A soft red light became apparent at the end of the hallway. Roy's hand found the wall, but when he leaned on it, he almost fell. It was wet, slick. He brought the fingers to his face, and a coppery reek hit his nostrils like a train engine. He dragged himself even faster, hoping to heaven and angels and the God he professed not to believe in that Edward was all right.

"EDWARD!"

The red liquid was spattered all over the hallway, becoming increasingly visible as he approached the reddish glow. The laugh was everywhere now, echoing off the walls and ceilings and floors through windows and doors, possessing the mind and heart and making Roy's pants feel moist.

The doorway was before him, but it was a doorway that sent people away screaming rather than welcoming them in. The red light streamed out of it into the hallway, dappling the scarlet pools, which were fed by a stream through the door, with crimson highlights. There was nary a sound but that of laughter and dripping, dripping blood.

Roy swallowed hard and grasped the side of the doorway, pulling his body into it to stand before the light.

* * *

"Hi, Colonel Bastard!" Edward's voice greeted him cheerfully.

Roy stood frozen, staring at his subordinate with an odd mixture of nerves and horror that almost made him want to laugh along with Edward.

Edward crouched on the ground, soaked in red as if he had bathed in it, and he cradled something metal in his arms as if it were a baby.

"Look what I found!" he chirped happily, smiling broadly. He held up his treasure, and Roy suddenly found himself struggling to breathe. "Don't you like it?"

"I…" Roy's voice trailed off into nothing, and he felt his good leg give way, crumbling before the sight into an unconscious oblivion of fear and shock.

There in Edward's arms, cradled as if it were alive, reposed Alphonse Elric's helmet.

* * *

A/N: Review... Was it good? Did it scare you as much as it scared me writing it? Tell me! Review!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters and likenesses thereof. This is a fan-made work created purely for entertainment, and I am not in any way affiliated with the author or publishers. In other words: It's not mine! I'm just having fun with it! Thank you to **Chibi Hayaku Hashiru** for letting me adopt this story!

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. I really enjoyed writing it. In the middle of it, somewhere, is where I abandoned the plot line Chibi had for the story and took it in my own fresh direction... Anyway, thanks muchly to **Taranova**, **xXxnightshadexXx**, **Narutolovesme2**, **Shandrial**, **ZukoFlame**, **Very Swampeh**, **StormAlchemist677**, **Inicol1990**, **Simply Complex Mind**, **Suicidal-Despair**,**Orange Singer**, and **foreverforgotten5** for your lovely reviews!

* * *

Darkness swirled around him… echoing voices slithered eerily through his consciousness… cold fingers clutched at his arm…

"_Hello… hello… hello… hello…"_

"Hello!?!" The realization that it was Edward's voice jerked him back into reality, slowly opening his eyes. "You'd better not be dead, you bastard…" his voice sounded angry, but there was a hint of desperation as well.

The rancid smell of blood spilled hours ago assaulted his senses once again, thick and greasy, and he vomited for the second time that day, the liquid bubbling up from his throat threatening to choke him by running back down again. He rebelled against the acid dribbling down into his lungs, and it dripped out of the corners of his mouth, thrust by his tongue, as he still felt too faint to move.

Edward leaned over him, terror and irritation mixing strangely in his big golden eyes. He leaned down and wiped Roy's mouth with the sleeve of his coat. The fabric felt rough on his cheeks and it tasted of coppery fat… a new wave of vomit spurted up from his core. Edward looked confused.

"I'm so glad you're not dead," he said in a monotone that left no indication whether or not he actually was, although Roy suspected or at least hoped that he was.

Edward still cradled the horrible object in his hand, playing around with the tassel that connected to the back. He was wrapping it around his wrist, wrapping, wrapping, wrapping… it was tightening…

"Edward… what happened here?" Roy ventured softly. The tassel tightened, tightened, tightened, blocking veins and arteries …

"I thought I already told you…" Edward paused, his face confused, eyes wide as blood dripped down his face from his soaking hair. "Oh, I guess not." He furrowed his brow, concentrating very hard. The drugs must still be making his brain fuzzy…

"Anyways, I came here to look for something… something illegal… here in the Fifth, you know…and Al was here," he said, as though Roy knew nothing… which really was not so far from the truth, and so Roy forgave him it. "Although they had him, took him away from me… those damned Homunculi! They said they'd kill him if I didn't do what they wanted… and so I did!" He whipped his head around, a dangerous gleam in his eye.

Roy's stomach twisted with that proclamation. Edward's hand was turning blue, all that blood trapped, unable to get where it needed to go… purple tinged the edges of his nails.

"I did, Colonel Bastard, I did! All gone, transmuted away! Nothing left but a pretty red rock, oh no!" Edward threw his head back and laughed loudly, the unnatural cadence of his merriment flooding the empty building with a sound like the cacophony of a thousand lost souls… echoing, echoing, echoing… speaking in words just barely comprehensible to Roy's terrified brain.

"_Slaughter…"_

"_Honey?"_

"_Dying… fire…"_

"_Mommy?"_

"_Where are you?"_

"_Daddy!!!"_

The sounds were invading him, choking his senses and deafening his heart, begging and pleading and threatening and pawing and grasping and weeping…

He laughed. A simple chuckle, but a laugh nonetheless. He smiled lightly and crouched down by Edward.

"Hey, Ed." His voice was relaxed, happy almost, as if he were greeting a brother after a long day's work at a farm. He was filled with warmth. He patted his subordinate's back and began to unwrap the tassel from around his wrist, watching the purple and blue fade into red and lighten into normal skin again. "I was wondering what happened to Al. You never told me, you know." Edward's hand was now free of that unhealthy constriction. That made Roy happy, very happy, so happy that he gave his little alchemist friend a little hug just his size. Roy had always wanted to be a father someday.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked, looking slightly confused. "Al's right here, silly!" He smiled widely and held up the helmet as evidence. The light was gone from its eyes. Only an empty shell remained.

Roy raised his eyebrow. "No, no, no," he disagreed strongly. "That's not Al at all. Al's a nice boy. That's a helmet." He shook his head and Edward looked down at the wet red floor. "Why don't you put that away? It looks creepy."

Edward choked and began to cry, his shoulders heaving like a little boy's. Roy sighed. He hadn't meant to make Edward sad… but he had, and he felt bad.

"Hey, hey…" he said softly, putting his arms around Edward's shoulders and hugging him tightly. "No need to cry, Ed. Al will be okay; we'll find him, okay? You said he was still alive. I bet he's waiting for us to find him! He might even be here in one of these rooms. Probably the rest of his armor is broken and he just can't move. Don't worry, we'll find him."

Edward's sobs slowed into whimpers and he snuggled into Roy's shoulder. Roy squeezed him tighter.

"Don't worry," he went on. "We'll find him, and maybe we'll go have a picnic. I'll have Fuery make sandwiches and Riza can bring Black Hayate and you can help me carry the basket and we'll all sit down on a big blanket and have a good time! I'll bring Al a kitty to play with and we'll laugh at Breda running from Black Hayate and we'll be just like a family! Riza can be your mommy and I'll be your daddy! How does that sound?"

Edward crinkled his nose at the thought and shook his head. "I don't think I want a bastard like you for a daddy. Besides, I have Al. I don't need anybody else." He hugged the helmet. "Right, Al?" The answer must have been affirmative, because Edward smiled and hugged it tighter.

Roy felt very sad. After all, he'd always wanted to look out for Edward. It was really a shame. Why didn't Edward like him? Tears came into his eyes as if he had been slapped, and he withdrew his arms from Edward and turned around to face the other direction.

There was silence for a while.

"Why do you keep calling that thing Al?" Roy asked presently. "It's not alive."

Edward mulled this over for a minute. "No, it isn't…" he admitted. "It's not alive… do you know why?" Roy shook his head, humoring the poor child.

"Why?"

"Because Al doesn't need a metal body anymore. He can live inside me!"

Roy's stomach twisted sickeningly and he laughed long and hard, unable to stop, gasping for breath, throat ragged from his mirth.

"Inside you? Why would you do that? That's not funny, little alchemist. Stop it," he demanded between gasping breaths.

"I'M NOT LITTLE!!!" the response came very fast, but even then his subordinate did not have the gusto to create a full-length short rant. Roy smiled at his beet-red alchemist.

"Of course you're not," he conceded, deciding to humor his angry little boy. "Now come and help me find him. He's in this building, right?"

"Of course he is! He's right here!" Ed dropped the helmet and bared his chest, where a sloppy transmutation circle stained it with blood. He must have made it while Roy was out; his shirt was ripped where it had not been and the blood on the floor would have been sufficient to make the drawing… whose blood was it anyway? The putrid smell assaulted Roy's nostrils once more, and his stomach lurched until he pinched his nose shut.

"No, he's not, and _this_ is not him either, Ed." Roy swooped down and grabbed the helmet, pulling it out Edward's reach with his free hand.

"Give that back!" Edward screamed, his sobs reawakening. "Give it back!" Roy considered this… but the odds that it really did somehow contain Alphonse were still astronomically low, so he shook his head kindly.

Edward growled and lunged at him.

"Can't do it!" he said, skipping out of Edward's range with a mischievous grin. "Get it into your head, Fullmetal. Al's not in this helmet, and he's not in you." He turned to skip away, but Edward grabbed the edge of his jacket.

"Please?" Edward cried, looking up at him. The tears running down his face were so heartbreaking that Roy almost wanted to give him the helmet back. His eyes were swollen, and he choked on the word.

"I'm helping you find Al," Roy said in return, making his voice as reassuring as possible.

"Really?" Edward asked hopefully, longingly gazing at the helmet. Roy smiled and tossed it into a mound of rubble. Ed turned to run and get it, but Roy grabbed him by his collar and refused to let him go no matter how he squirmed.

He peered around the room carefully, taking in every detail. Bits and pieces of chalked transmutation circles were scribbled on ruined concrete, blood pooled everywhere. He wondered why he had fainted before; he had definitely seen worse before. Doors lay all over the rooms, leaned up against mounds of walls in various states of disrepair… all save one.

The little closet was firmly shut, the strangely heavy metal door not even dented in the confusion of the wreckage. This was odd. He began to approach it and Ed began to squirm again, more violently this time. He tightened his grip on his little one's collar and walked closer.

The eerie red glow really seemed to have no source… the walls? Designs he'd never even heard of traced the walls, and although he was not sure what they meant, he knew that they must be forbidden… why else keep them hidden? Despite his jovial mood, tendrils of anxiety began to enter his mind again. For no particular reason, the foul taste of his earlier vomit began to make him feel almost ill again.

Edward leaned back suddenly, almost knocking Roy himself off balance.

"Look, I found him!" he exclaimed happily, pointing at a mound of rubble where a piece of metal stuck out.

"No, you didn—" the words froze in Roy's mouth. His eyes widened, pupils contracting as his motion in any direction ceased entirely. Ed took the opportunity to detach his collar from Roy's hand and run ahead to the rubble.

"See?" Ed pulled a metal arm out of the scrap heap; the fingers, the lines, the scratches were… Roy felt sick for the most recent of many times that day; he swallowed hard to keep what little he still had in his stomach there.

"I'm sure he just lost his arm," he said shakily, heading back that way… his feet sloshed through a little stream of blood that was a little thicker than the rest, almost as if it were the source… congealing because it had sat still the longest... He looked back at the little door, wondering, wondering… "I'm sure he's running around looking for…"

"I found the rest!" Edward announced, grinning from ear to ear. He held up a tiny piece of metal. A transmutation circle like the one he'd painted on his chest… but split down the middle.

It's funny, the chasm that separates life and death. Much of the time, it seems a mile wide, if not two thousand. It is distant, looming high above us like a reminder, but never one that touches too often or too quickly. Roy had been in war; he knew that was not so. He knew that anyone could and would die at any time. He was convinced that people were transient, evanescent, like flowers or mayflies… but now the chasm was a mere hair's breadth, and were it six inches to the left or right… everything might be fine.

"I told you Al wasn't there anymore," Ed said patiently, as if he were teaching a stubborn child insisting that the world was flat.

The world was not round; it was spiraling, and at the middle of that spiral, there lay a door, a metal door, a metal closet door that was shut despite the destruction, almost as I it had been left intact to hide something away… he was crawling away up the congealing stream, blood giving way to scabby clots like water to islands, dredging up the dirt at the bottom which once ha been innocuous, chalk and gravel, glass that cut into his chest and rough concrete that rubbed the wounds raw…

He arrived at the door. Edward was quiet, perhaps celebrating his largely imaginary reunion with his dead brother. There was nary a noise but a footstep or two, Ed's little boots clunking around as he danced or performed some other action behind Roy.

He reached out to the door, slowly closing his grasp around it, pulling down on the handle. The door swung open every so slowly, and even Edward's footsteps had ceased to make a sound, perhaps even to exist. There was no motion behind him, beside him, before him…

Golden eyes stared up at him with blank intensity, looking very fearfully, but not at him, even though their eyes made contact. They looked through him, beyond him, at something no longer there, frozen in the moment, the horror of their death. Blood pooled under the corpse from multiple stab wounds and rough tears in the flesh. The face was unmarked, clean, almost as if the killer had wiped it clean to better see the horror he was inflicting on poor little Edward Elric. Edward Elric…

"_WAIT!"_ The warning bells this sight should have triggered immediately activated with twice the intensity they might have had before. Roy whirled around to look the living Edward, and he nearly cut himself on teeth… Edward's teeth… exposed in a hollow grin that reeked of the grave, eyes empty of anything but pure malice. The creature laughed, previous footsteps silent because he was no longer wearing shoes, but strange socks with holes for the toes and heels, a strange skort-like garment, hair turning green as the face warped into something else, someone else…

"You got me."

Fresh spatters stained the now open door.

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A/N: Review! Don't shoot me yet, folks! I promise this will be explained a little better in the upcoming epilogue... yes, this is the last official chapter, but there will be, as I just said, a very nice epilogue. My little idea was just that, a little idea, and I hope to be able to continue with my other projects once this bunny has been satisfied. Were you startled? Surprised? Dare I say it, and pardon my language, "mindf-----?" Please review and tell me!


	4. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters and likenesses thereof. This is a fan-made work created purely for entertainment, and I am not in any way affiliated with the author or publishers. In other words: It's not mine! I'm just having fun with it! Thank you to **Chibi Hayaku Hashiru** for letting me adopt this story!

A/N: Well, this is the end. I hope you enjoy. Thanks muchly to **baconinthesoap64, Daku-DarkNess316, InfinityOnTheRun, Simply Complex Mind, foreverforgotten5, colorfulquirkcutieanimefan, Inicol1990, Shandrial **and **Very Swampeh **for your wonderful reviews! Forgive me for the long wait, but moving into college does that to you.

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_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

She sat in the quiet room alone, alone with the man she loved. It had taken her a long time to admit it, but it was true and it was there. His heart beat under her right fingers. She ran her free hand over his forehead. It was drenched in sweat.

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

He had never woken up after he killed the Fuhrer. That had been six months ago, and each minute that he had not regained consciousness dragged on for what seemed an eternity. So quiet… always so quiet…

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

He twitched suddenly, and she jumped nearly out of her skin. She leaned forward, trying to catch the words she now realized he'd been forming silently for quite some time.

"Hey, hey… No need to cry, Ed. Al will be okay; we'll find him, okay? You said he was still alive. I bet he's waiting for us to find him! He might even be here in one of these rooms. Probably the rest of his armor is broken and he just can't move. Don't worry, we'll find him."

She felt a lump form in her throat. Some trauma is just too much for the soul. It seemed that now his very mind had betrayed him, creating nightmares he would never escape because they were not real.

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

"Don't worry… We'll find him, and maybe we'll go have a picnic. I'll have Fuery make sandwiches and Riza can bring Black Hayate and you can help me carry the basket and we'll all sit down on a big blanket and have a good time! I'll bring Al a kitty to play with and we'll laugh at Breda running from Black Hayate and we'll be just like a family! Riza can be your mommy and I'll be your daddy! How does that sound?"

Tears came into her eyes, pooling at the thought. What a beautiful world her beloved would have envisioned for them. She sighed and wiped her eyes.

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

"Why do you keep calling that thing Al? It's not alive…Why? Inside you? Why would you do that? That's not funny, little alchemist. Stop it… Of course you're not… Now come and help me find him. He's in this building, right? No, he's not, and _this_ is not him either, Ed… Can't do it! Get it into your head, Fullmetal. Al's not in this helmet, and he's not in you… I'm helping you find Al." The once strong man smiled reassuringly, and she felt the little pieces of her heart shattering into her chest cavity, making it hard to breathe.

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

His eyes were open now, but she knew he could not see her. Would he ever see her again? She worked so hard not to burst into tears, focusing, focusing on him, focusing only on him. His expression faded through several emotions one by one, settling finally into confusion.

"No, you didn— I'm sure he just lost his arm… I'm sure he's running around looking for…"

She shuddered, the simplicity of the statements only punctuating the true horrors they implied. What was he seeing? Why was he there? Why wouldn't he come back, back to her? Why? Why?

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

His expression transformed into a white-faced determination, and she could almost see him marching forward the way he used to do, determined to confront the monsters no matter how terrible he might find them to be in the end. She gripped his wrist tighter, holding to the only part of him that she had, feeling the beautiful blood rushing through his veins, keeping him with her, with her…

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

The emotion changed once more, shock and terror, ultimate terror and betrayal and horror, the silent sound of a cracking mind's last gasp. He gasped aloud, mouthing phrases and words and syllables…

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

He screamed, his back arching as he fought the horrors, his eyes wide and staring in horror as he jerked about in the throes of the nightmare. She gasped, clutching his arm as his head fell sideways, his tongue lolling out as he stared glassily ahead into something she would never understand…

_Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…_

_Silence._

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"The body cannot live without the mind."

--Morpheus, _The Matrix_

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Review! I hope this took the story to new heights, but I cannot be sure. My apologies to **Shandrial **for doing that to Roy-boy after she asked me so nicely not to... Please review!


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